Social Representation v2.0
Warren Beardall????
Revealing risk in the space between them and us | Consultant | PhD researcher | Collaborator
“…what science looks like once filtered through Twitter”
?My homework tonight.?Explain this concept <200 words. I found some misappropriated help:
“…Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler”. [~Albert Einstein?]
“...I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one.”? [~Mark Twain?]
Where do we collectively sit between these two truths??In the modern age we have no time – or no will – to read lengthy explanations.?We prefer lowest common denominator, headline grabbing, click bait.
If there is honest intent to maintain truth in explaining cause and effect, psychology might call this stripped bare version “Social Representation”.
Text book theory hardly get us closer to what this represents.?These are the pithy summaries we were offered:
“...collective elaborative explanations of complex phenomena that transform them into familiar and simple form” Hogg and Vaughn 2018 pp105.
Their second attempt:
"...simplified causal theories of complex phenomena that are socially constructed through communication contextualised by intergroup relations.?Rumour and gossip may play a key role in social representations"?(ibid pp113)
?In the Twitter age, can we say more with less…?
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197 words
Institute for Peace and Security Studies University of Addis Ababa
3 年I find it very hard to discern what point this is trying to make. It highlights Twitter tendency for misrepresentation and misattribution. Einstein, the person who has perhaps the most quotes misattributed to him, is misquoted in the very first example, confirming my dictum that "if it is attributed to Einstein, he probably did not say it." The second quote has been attributed to so many people, that one should fairly attribute it to everybody. This seems to be a self ironic article falling into exactly the trap it warns against. Intentional, then very clever, but probably far too subtle for most. Unintentional, then missing the mark. We should concisely and clearly explain all that need to be explained, avoiding lazy platitudes and slogans. Is this the message you want to convey?